| ROA: | 154 |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Initial State and 'Richness of the Base' in Optimality Theory |
| Authors: | Paul Smolensky |
| Comment: | |
| Length: | 29 |
| Abstract: | Paul Smolensky Cognitive Science Department, Johns Hopkins University Basic learnability considerations are argued to explain the broad generalization that the same linguistic structures which are marked in the sense of later-emerging in child language tend also to be marked in adult languages. Using Optimality Theory (OT), and developing a proposal of Prince (1993), this generalization can be reduced to the requirement that the initial state H0 possess the property that structural markedness constraints outrank faithfulness constraints. H0 is explained as a learnability consequence of a fundamental OT principle, richness of the base: the set of possible inputs to the grammar is universal. This principle entails a strong requirement for what it means to have acquired a language with an unmarked inventory: subordination of faithfulness constraints in the absence of evidence of their domination. This raises a familiar type of Subset Problem for acquisition, which H0 resolves. Richness of the base lends unity to a seemingly incoherent set of assumptions defining the emerging OT theory of acquisition: the initial state is H0, and the child's inputs to the grammar are close to the adult form. Keywords: learnability, markedness, Optimality Theory, Subset Problem, richness of the base, acquisition |
| Type: | Paper/tech report |
| Area/Keywords: | |
| Article: | Version 1 |